Brooklyn Bridge, No. 6 (Swaying)

One of America’s first modernists, John Marin combined the angularity of Cubism and the dynamism of Futurism with native subjects. After six years in Europe, he returned to New York City, where he found inspiration in the city’s architecture. This print—intended as part of a portfolio in support of The New Republic magazine, but substituted by another work after only a few sets—highlights the iconic Gothic arches of the Brooklyn Bridge, while emphasizing the city’s pulsating energy through the use of sweeping parallel lines and an elevated perspective. It was based on a circa 1912 watercolor now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Marin equated the forces of nature—“pushing, pulling, sideways, downwards, upwards”—with sound. Like a similar print, Song of the Bridge, this image seems to sway to a modern, jazzy beat.